Two Losers in Love
by julliet15
Summary: Peter is in love and doesn't know what to do with himself. MJ doesn't either. How will these two losers survive the night?


**Look, I'm a sucker for ships like this. You put a ball of sunshine with a sarcastic heart of darkness, and I am there. MCU got me started with Romanogers, and after that rollercoaster I was ready to get off the shipping train... and then Spideychelle dragged me back.**

**Anyway, enjoy my fluff.**

* * *

MJ's boyfriend was stupid cute. It was the last day of summer, so to celebrate, Peter dragged them out to a couple's movie night in the park - featuring a red-and-white checkered blanket, battery-powered candlelight, a box of See's candies, and basically every other cliche in the _Romance for Dummies_ manual. If anyone from school happened to pass by, MJ was prepared to snatch her boyfriend's webbing and subdue them to an eternal, sticky silence. Never mind that she was enjoying every bit of the ooze-fest. She and Peter hadn't stopped giggling since they sat down. People were starting to glare.

What made it worse was that they started to purposefully push each other to laugh out loud, throwing around the dumbest middle school jokes and cartoon references at their disposal.

"Hey MJ," Peter whispered, struggling to keep his composure. "I just thought of something funnier than 24."

"Let me hear it," MJ whispered back.

Peter bit back a smile. "25."

Their shoulders started shaking, and MJ buried her face in his shoulder to smother her banshee scream of laughter.

"SpongeBob is never funny to me, why is that so funny right now?" MJ said between gasps of laughter.

"Bite your tongue, that's classic comedy," said Peter, sobering up immediately. MJ only laughed harder.

Once MJ had calmed down, she bumped her shoulder against his. "You are such a dork."

She expected a retort, but Peter seemed to have forgotten her slight in favor of staring at her mouth. Her cheeks heated up.

"Can…" Peter swallowed. "Can I… kiss you? Right now?"

MJ's insides melted. She gently pushed his chest until he was lying down, and she laid herself beside him, propping up her head on one hand while tracing his jaw with the other.

"We've been dating for three months, Peter," she said. "You don't have to ask every time you want to make out with me."

Peter scrunched his nose and said, poutingly, "But you said consent is sexy."

MJ released a horrendous snort, causing several people to turn around and glare again, but she ignored them. She took a hopeful Peter's face in her hands, and they slid into a slow, sensual kiss that seeped warmth into her skin and quite possibly her bones. Peter shivered beneath her.

"You are _so_ sexy for trying so hard," she whispered, pulling back enough to look into his eyes. "But you're good."

"Okay," he squeaked.

She sighed and tapped his nose. "You're so cute it's annoying."

"I'm sorry."

It killed MJ how sincere his apology sounded; this boy did not belong on planet Earth. Smiling, she kissed him again. And again. And again.

* * *

Peter was so glad he was able to convince MJ to go to movie night in the park tonight. She kept saying his "puppy dog eyes" didn't work on her, but whenever he made the effort to use them, she always agreed to what he asked. Not that he used the puppy dog eyes a lot; he didn't want her to feel manipulated or coerced into anything. But they'd just spent the last fifteen minutes making out until his lips were numb, so, like she said, he's good. Probably.

At the sound of a woman's scream, their heads jerked up out of reflex, but they realized it was just a young blond girl on the screen running from a giant spider. The irony was not lost on them.

"What's this movie called again?" MJ asked.

"The Giant Spider Invasion," said Peter. "Did you know that they built the main spider out of a Volkswagen? See, the red eyes are the taillights, and there are crew people inside moving the legs."

"Cool."

Peter grinned. Aside from Ned, most people looked at him weird when he listed random facts about cult classic films, but when MJ said that something sounded cool, she meant it.

"What are you grinning about?" MJ asked, poking his side.

His smile got bigger despite himself. "Nothing."

MJ feigned punching his jaw, and he feigned intense pain in slow motion.

"Loser," she deadpanned.

She settled back into his embrace. Peter and MJ were tangled up in each other with an un-awkward familiarity that they had struggled for months to earn. Before, they were all gangly legs and twisted arms and fumbling hands, but now sliding his arms around MJ felt as natural as sliding on his suit. Okay, sometimes her hair still tickled his nose, but that was hardly a complaint. He didn't have many complaints at all, really.

Enraptured, MJ continued to watch the film as the screen flickered with scattered lights across her face. He liked having the freedom to look at her whenever he wanted. Not, like, in a creepy way, just that they were dating now and didn't have to be embarrassed when one caught the other staring. And stare her did.

Peter's girlfriend was the prettiest, smartest, snarkiest, beautifulest, secretly dorkiest girl on planet Earth. Actually, since he'd been to outer space, he can legally say in the entire universe, not just Earth.

He loved this girl.

His muscles clenched. _Oh, crap_.

"Peter?" MJ muttered.

Ugh, when she said his name like that, his heart always threatened to implode. Or explode. Or both.

"Is your Peter Tingle going off?" she teased. He majorly regretted that she heard Aunt May call it that.

Her smile slipped away when he hesitated. He saw her eyes take a quick inventory of their surroundings, and as she started to rise, he squeezed her shoulder to coax her back.

"It's not that," he said. "Just… wondering if you wanted a popcorn refill."

All the muscle tension drained from her body and concentrated in the deep frown line that always signaled that she was about to activate her mind-reading powers. That Scarlet Witch character had nothing on MJ.

"I want more, so I'll just go get it," Peter said, wincing at how high his voice sounded as he shimmied out of their embrace.

He resisted the urge to thwip and swing as far away as possible as he marched toward the snack stand. He stared down a condensation ring on the counter, drumming his fingers. _Tap. Tap. Tap._ No need to panic. _Tap tap tap_. They've been dating for several months now, didn't mean he had to label his feelings. _Tap tap._ Labels were for losers, right? That's what MJ would say._ Tap tap_. It was just a deep, deep admiration, turned crush, turned… something he wouldn't say out loud. _Taptaptap._ Especially if it risked making MJ feel uncomfortable around him. Taptaptaptaptaptap -

"You're being weird."

Peter yelped out loud. He spun around for an eyeful of MJ, looking bored, with the scrunch between her brows being the only giveaway that she was onto him. Peter was about ready to collapse into spasms. Now would be an excellent time for a new super villain to pop out of the bushes over there… Nope. Nothing. He was screwed.

* * *

MJ was screwed. Here had she marched over, ready to give him the shakedown so he'd admit what was bothering him, but he distracted her by plowing his hand through the front of his hair, ruffling it even more than their previous make-out already had. Her eyes went straight to the knotted cluster of curls. Ached to tangle her fingers in it. Scolding her hormones back into submission, she focused on the anxiety hanging on his face.

"I'm not weird, why do you think I'm being weird?" he said. He tried to lean his arm on the counter and missed, sending him off balance.

"I don't know," she replied, crossing her arms. "You were fine two minutes ago, now you're all twitchy. Why?"

"Uh… boh?"

She poked his chest, ignoring the tight firmness that made her bizarrely thankful for the existence of radioactive spider bites. She really needed to get those hormones under control. "Using my favorite word ever is not getting you off the hook this time."

Peter ducked his head. "You're just going to call me a loser for saying it."

"I'll call you a loser for not saying it."

He laughed at that. MJ never quite understood why he found her barbs so funny; usually people would glare at her, or at the very least get put off and change the topic. But Peter, though baffled, would always let out that breathy, relieved laughter every time she messed with him, followed by a look of pure naked happiness in his eyes, like he was thrilled she'd talked to him at all.

_Ugh, focus, MJ. Something is seriously bothering Peter._

MJ didn't often go to such drastic measures, but if he was going to make that close-lipped frog face, then she must: she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her. His panic zoomed in by 300%. In response, she curled her other hand around the back of his neck, massaging the nape of his hair where it was the absolute softest, until his shoulders sank back down. That move never failed to chill him out.

"What's up?" MJ asked.

He brought his hand to her elbow, sliding up her forearm to grasp her hand and press his cheek against her fingers. After a heavy silence, he lifted his face, and his gaze struck her at the speed of light.

"I… think I love you," he said.

A static buzz started singing in her head, louder and louder until it was drowning out everything except the pulse in her fingers where she was touching Peter's face. What was the word she learned this morning in her Word of the Day? That's right. _Gobsmacked_. She blinked, slowly turned around, then slowly turned back. She pointed a finger at herself.

"Who, me?"

A startled laugh erupted from Peter, melting off his remaining nerves and replacing them with a wide smirk. This time, he pulled her closer.

"Do you see any other MJ's here?" he whispered conspiratorially.

She was flustered. "I don't know, there's a cute redhead over there that looks like she could pass for an MJ…"

He shook his head. "I don't think so." He took her other hand that was still wrapped around his neck and squeezed it. "You see, my MJ is very unique. She's got this wild frizzy hair and a thousand yard stare that we affectionately like to call the Male Ego Killer. She's so dark and emo, she literally has a Top Ten list of her favorite murders. But…" Peter leaned in so close his breath tickled her. "Secretly she's a total softie who hides a Spider-Man plushie under her pillow."

MJ jerked her hands out of his. "Ha, ha, funny Peter. I do not own such a plushie."

"Oh really? Then explain why it's in my phone background."

She lunged for the brick of a phone sticking out of his jean pocket, but she should have known better than to try to beat Spider-Man's reflexes. Snatching her hand and spinning her around like a waltz dancer, he locked her from behind in an embrace that looked romantic from a distance, but in reality kept her pinned, helpless, as Peter snickered in her ear. A thrill coursed through her body. See, MJ loved to mess with Peter, because flustered Peter was her favorite kind of Peter. But the longer they dated, the more comfortable he felt around her and the more often he turned the tables and flustered her; somehow, it was astronomically more fun when he did.

"There is oooone more thing about my MJ," Peter said.

"What?" MJ asked.

"She has always, always been there for me. Even when my whole life becomes a dumpster fire, she's there with a fire extinguisher and a mace. And after everything we've been through, I'm so grateful that she taught me how to trust people again. Even if they suck."

"They do."

They laughed, and Peter nuzzled her cheek. After a beat, a voice called out, "Yo, do you still want your popcorn?"

MJ and Peter sprang away from each other. They saw the snack shop employee, who looked like a six-year-old forced to watch his parents make out, as he pushed the popcorn bag on the counter with one finger. Ears burning, Peter swiped the bag off the counter.

"Sorry it took so long, the machine is being real finicky tonight," said the employee.

Without a word, Peter saluted him. He cringed at himself, knowing MJ would raze him for such a dork move, but she said nothing when they started walking back to their picnic blanket. After a few steps, she stopped, sucking in her bottom lip.

"Peter?"

His fist clenched the top of the popcorn bag. "Yeah?"

Another pause, then, speaking fast like someone would beat her to it, she said, "I love you, Peter."

A grin split open Peter's face. They watched each other for one blissful moment, then Peter's grin fell lopsided and he said, "I know."

MJ's jaw dropped. "Dead man say what?"

"I'm not falling for that." Peter took several steps back, holding up his hands like he was placating but still grinning like a scoundrel.

"How dare you," said MJ. "How dare you! You did NOT just pull a Han Solo on me."

Peter busted up with laughter, swiveling this way and that as MJ pounced towards him and scattering the ground with shiny buttery popcorn.

"Hey!" Peter cried, jerking away from MJ. "I did say 'I love you' first!"

She growled and tackled him, knocking the popcorn bag out of his hand altogether. Popcorn rained around them, but before MJ could insert another of her classic rants about his "unhealthy" obsession with Star Wars, he lifted his head and pressed his lips to hers. She kissed him back for a moment, then forced them apart.

"Hold on, I'm still mad at - "

Peter interrupted her with another kiss, and then another, and another. He kissed her until they both forgot what they were even fighting about, and they ended up in breathless on the ground, side by side and listening to the movie's cheesy scary soundtrack in the distance. He rubbed the soft spots between her knuckles and kissed them.

"You're the worst," MJ muttered.

"I know."

She smacked his arm. He groaned.

"Punk," she said.

He rolled over to his side, eyes once again radiant with the childlike joy she was used to.

"I mean it though," he said, eager and nervous for her approval. "I love you. I love you a lot."

"I love you too," she said, grinning foolishly. She abruptly sat up. "All right, that's enough sap for today. Can we go back to the movie please? I wanna see if the annoying white girl gets eaten."

"Which one?"

"HA, fair question."

Their popcorn long forgotten, they walked back toward the giant movie screen, with Peter swinging their intertwined hands back and forth and practically skipping with joy. MJ would have teased him if she didn't feel just as ridiculously happy. Boy, did she love this loser.

* * *

**Since Spidey's out of the MCU now, should I not have included the Scarlet Witch reference?**

**I am mega salty that I'm even asking this question.**


End file.
